The look conferred by a high gloss (high shine) color cosmetic product is considered glamorous and sensual. However, high shine products have tended to have little staying power on the skin or hair. Flaking and smudging are common problems with high shine products. To reduce flaking and smudging, measures may be taken that would not be necessary for non-glossy mascara products. One such measure has been the use of film forming agents in the mascara composition. Such materials provide a certain level of gloss and staying power, but that gloss is proportional to the amount of film former used. If too much film former is needed to achieve a level of gloss, then the product will be hard, which makes it subject to cracking, and difficult to remove with water alone.
Film forming systems may also be useful for imparting curl the eyelashes, especially if the film contracts as it dries. In such systems, the types and amounts of film formers must selected to provide just the right amount of contractile force and dry time. Too little contraction force and a short dry time means that the eyelashes will curl little or not at all, and too much contraction force and a long dry time will result in an undesirable, unnatural look. Thus, a high gloss mascara that also curls the eyelashes is even more difficult to formulate.
Another issue in film-forming systems is that there tends to be a loss of color intensity, true color and/or shine as the solvent evaporates (that is, the composition does not “wear” well).
Thus, achieving a high-shine, true-color mascara composition that provides the right amount of curl to the eyelashes, while avoiding stability issues, such as syneresis, has not been a simple task. This challenge is further exacerbated by other consumer product demands that must be addressed, such as easy removal from the eyelashes. To date, satisfactory results have not been achieved. There is, therefore, still a need for mascara compositions that meet these, and other, consumer demands. It will be especially advantageous to provide high gloss, long wear mascara compositions that curl and lengthen the eyelashes, and provide true color, while exhibiting reduced flaking and smudging. The present invention provides such compositions.
Conventional mascara formulations include oil-in-water emulsion mascaras which may typically have an oil phase to water ratio of 1:7 to 1:3. Generally, oil-in-water mascaras do not stand up well to exposure of water and humidity. There are also water-in-oil mascaras whose principle benefit is water resistance and long wearability, but generally suffer from difficulty in removing the product from the lashes, and a long dry-time.
In contrast, co-pending application, U.S. Ser. No. 15/632,903, discloses high shine color cosmetic compositions that are flexible, smudge and flake resistant, as well as oil resistant, making them very suitable as high shine, long wear cosmetics. These compositions are initially hydrophilic, but dry hydrophobic. The compositions comprise specific combinations of acrylates/VA copolymer and acrylates copolymer in a cosmetically acceptable base or delivery vehicle, and are suitable as mascara products. However, this application fails to disclose compositions comprising 10% to 30% of ammonium styrene/acrylate copolymer and 1% to 6% of acrylates/VA copolymer as a plasticizer, as disclosed herein, and the benefits thereof, as described for the first time, herein.